ABSTRACT
The earliest account of an attempt to penetrate the interior of northern Africa is a story which was related to Herodotus by some natives of Cyrene. In the well-known story, also related by Herodotus, of the circumnavigation of Africa by certain Phoenicians under Pharaoh Necho lies the origin of the sea-route to Guinea. This idea of outflanking the Sahara is of immense antiquity and was made use of by the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians are known to have obtained carbuncles from the Garamantes and Gaetuli who also was a desert people. The arguments in favour of trans-Saharan trade in Carthaginian times apply with equal force to the Roman period. For nearly 2,000 years the natives of North Africa have been in the habit of using Roman monuments as stone quarries for the building of their own houses. Having obtained interpreters from the Lixitae the Carthaginians continued their voyage along the desert coast.
